Although this has been a nice, relaxing weekend, we are looking forward to seeing your students back at school tomorrow for another busy week!
We will still have our Tuesday spelling test tomorrow for those students who didn’t test last week. With four to five spelling groups in each class, Mrs. Baynes will routinely only test half of the class each week. While these tests are given, I will work with the other half of the class to help them learn their words and complete their spelling activities for the following week. Using this schedule, your child can expect to have a spelling test every other week. When they take their test, they should also turn in two spelling activities that they have been independently working on to master their words. The menu of spelling activities is glued into their ELA notebooks on the inside back cover.
This weekend, your child should have read Chapter 6 in Esperanza Rising and completed the take home quiz on Chapters 5 and 6. We take a quiz after every two chapters as a way to assess comprehension and reinforce concepts presented in the novel. The quiz scores are not entered into PowerSchool, however, many of these quiz questions will appear on the final test of the novel which will be taken for a grade. Book Club this week will be held during recess on Friday to support any students who are falling behind with the reading.
We enjoyed the PowerPoint presentations your students gave on Migration in social studies last week, and we have started our new unit on the Three Branches of Government. We will focus on the Executive and Legislative Branch first, move into a unit on the Constitution, and then finish with the Judicial branch. Your students can expect a test on this material before the end of the month.
On Friday, Mrs. Neil’s class will be visiting the Prairie Crossing Farm for a lesson on wheat to support our Eat Real Green Challenge for this month. This will be a cross curricular lesson, allowing students to do a taste test of whole wheat bread (using grain from a Racine, WI source) vs. conventionally milled white bread as well as to do some winnowing and grinding themselves. We will be walking to the farm, so please ensure that your student is dressed for the weather and has comfortable footwear. It promises to be a great experience! We will also have a Natural Leader assembly at 8:15 and a staff vs. student soccer game at 2:30 that day.
Looking ahead to the end of the month, the 5/6 gradeband will have a Halloween party on Wednesday, 10/31. Although we don’t participate in the costume parade, students may change into Halloween costumes for the party which will begin around 2:00.